March 17, 2021 at 11:37 AM
In our family, this week brings with it not only the promise of spring, but the moist remembrance of 18 springs ago that is cause for pause, reflection, pride, gratitude, and eternal love.
When Elyse’s and my son and Elissa’s brother Harrison needed his third open-heart surgery in 2003, the first available date offered us by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was March 20. We took that as a divine sign of providence. It’s my birthday.
Philly is the city where Harrison sprang to life in 1987 in Pennysylvania Hospital, where Rocky Balboa’s son also was born, in the movies. Oddly enough, upon arrival, Harrison even had a bit of a shiner under one eye.